Sustainable Restaurant Group (“SRG”) today announced the addition of Christine Barone, CEO of True Food Kitchen, to the company’s board of directors. Barone brings a wealth of knowledge to SRG along with a track record of leading both global and emerging brands that are defining the future of hospitality.
SRG started in 2008 with the launch of Bamboo Sushi, the world’s first sustainable sushi restaurant. In 2016 the company added QuickFish, a sustainable quick service restaurant. With a national expansion of its Bamboo Sushi concept underway thanks to significant funding from a leading investment firm, SRG welcomes Barone’s knowledge and expertise as it embarks into its next chapter.
“We are thrilled to welcome Christine Barone, a fellow advocate of sustainable and mindful business practices, to our board,” says Kristofor Lofgren, founder and CEO of Sustainable Restaurant Group. “Sustainable Restaurant Group and True Food Kitchen both share such a deep commitment to inspiring change and enriching the communities we live in. Christine is an incredibly accomplished leader with invaluable insights that will help us accelerate our ongoing growth, just as she has with True Food Kitchen.”
Earlier in her career, Barone served as the senior vice president of food at Starbucks where she led the roll-out and launch of La Boulange Bakery offerings to over 12,000 Starbucks stores in the U.S. and Canada. Christine joined True Food Kitchen as CEO in August 2016, where she has since grown the business from 12 restaurants in 2016 to 27 today in 12 states. Prior to that, she spent years leading multiple teams as a management consultant at Bain & Company, where she advised leaders of retail and consumer business on strategy, marketing, organization and operations. Much like SRG’s Founder and CEO, Kristofor Lofgren, who launched his career as an environmental lawyer and investor, Barone began her career as an investment banker, a departure from the food industry, but also a role that lends its financial experience to different areas of leadership, such as her work with Bain, Starbucks, and now True Food Kitchen.
“Sustainable Restaurant Group’s passion for building brands rooted in conscious hospitality is impressive,” says Barone. “I’m thrilled to join the SRG Board of Directors and help advance their mission and commitment to defining the future of hospitality through healthy, sustainable change and community enrichment—all values that align with those of True Food Kitchen.”
Now serving on SRG’s Board of Directors, Barone will lend her passion and expertise to Lofgren’s team as SRG gains momentum in its own expansion. SRG will add to its current portfolio of nine restaurant locations across Portland, Oregon and Denver, Colorado with three new locations in the San Francisco Bay Area this year. SRG’s Bay Area expansion will kick off in September with its opening of Bamboo Sushi within San Ramon’s City Center Bishop Ranch, a newly opened 300,000-square-foot shopping, dining and entertainment destination. Subsequent locations, including one in San Jose’s Westfield Valley Fair shopping center, as well as a flagship in downtown San Francisco, will follow.
Over the next two years, SRG will continue its expansion of Bamboo Sushi to new markets to meet the demand of consumers seeking an authentic, premium sushi experience rooted in a strong dedication to sustainability.
